October 1, 2014 — Most of what's sold at Congressional Seafood in Jessup is exactly what you might see on a typical menu: salmon, tuna, grouper, bass, cod, haddock and the like.
This year, though, Tim Sughrue, vice president of the company, he expects to sell about a million pounds of blue catfish, a species many Marylanders may have never heard of.
John Rorapaugh, director of sustainable initiatives at seafood supplier ProFish in Washington, D.C., says his company will sell 400,000 pounds of blue catfish this year, in addition to more than 10,000 pounds of snakehead, a fish many local people have heard about but — let's face it — may not have eaten. The fish is also available at Whole Foods Market.
The only two invasive freshwater species in Maryland are being bought by restaurants, hotels and food service vendors.
"This fish is the top of the food chain," Sughrue said of blue catfish, which arrived here 40 years ago. He compared it to "a shark that is much more fecund.
The snakehead arrived in the 1990s when aquarium owners released them into local waterways because they grew too large or aggressive for the tank. The problem with invasive fish like blue cats, as they are called, and snakeheads is that they endanger the viability of native species by eliminating native sources of food and invading local habitats.
Steve Vilnit, fisheries marketing manager for the state Department of Natural Resources, acknowledges that snakehead and blue catfish are most likely here to stay but says residents need to reduce their population in order to mitigate the environmental impact. It makes sense, then, that he would brand the fish as culinary specialties.